When asked why now is the right time for Acer to enter the crowded market of handheld gaming PCs, Marc Ho, a Senior Director at Acer, is matter-of-fact.
“We decided to launch at this time because we find our product has better specs compared to our competitors,” says Ho, who marked his 20th year with Acer earlier this year.
Better specs, yes. And the price may be, in Ho's words, "similar" to the competition.
The upcoming Nitro Blaze 7, unveiled this week at IFA Berlin, is Acer’s first handheld Windows gaming PC and the company's foray into a space dominated by Steam and Asus. The specs, as you'll see below, are impressive. Chief among the questions looming about this new device: Its price.
On the outside, though, the Nitro Blaze 7 has a black plastic chassis with red and white details, giving it a decidedly “gamer” aesthetic. The back design also frames a pair of speakers.
The Nitro Blaze 7 has a 7-inch full HD display powered by an AMD Ryzen 7 8840HS CPU with AMD Radeon 780M integrated graphics.
Acer is trying to do things differently with the Nitro Blaze 7.
A glance at the computing and graphics power is enough to realize that Acer is trying to do things differently with the Nitro Blaze 7.
The AMD Ryzen 7 8840HS CPU is particularly noteworthy. None of the other major next-gen handheld gaming PCs use this chipset, but Acer chose it specifically for its neural processing unit, or NPU.
Ho tells Laptop: “We are using the latest [AMD] CPU with better performance [and] an NPU. So, now we can use that NPU to do some different features. As an example, there’s a software feature that allows you to use the NPU to optimize [the Nitro Blaze 7].”
Ho also notes that Acer tested alternative CPUs for the Nitro Blaze 7 but says that "the performance might not be good enough for certain popular games.”
In choosing the Ryzen 7 8840HS, Acer — while not exactly early to the handheld gaming PC trend — hopes it can define this new gaming era. Waiting may have allowed Acer to get a powerful set of specs at a price that is within range of low-priced competitors.
It’s our time to launch a better product with a similar price.
Marc Ho, Acer Senior Director
Regarding price, Ho tells Laptop Mag: “It’s our time to launch a better product at a similar price.”
An Acer rep also confirmed to Laptop Mag that the company has not yet priced the Blaze but will do so when it settles on the final configuration for the US edition.
If the Nitro Blaze 7 is a “similar price” to rivals like the ASUS ROG Ally X or the upcoming MSI Claw 8 AI+, we can expect it to cost around $700 or $800.
Can the Acer Nitro Blaze 7 stand out in an increasingly competitive handheld market?
Can the Acer Nitro Blaze 7 survive in a crowded market?
The Acer Nitro Blaze 7 isn’t the first handheld gaming PC, and it won’t be the cheapest, so it has to do something special to make an impact on gamers. At a glance, it seems like a tall order; one the Nitro Blaze 7 might not be ready to meet.
For example, the Nitro Blaze 7 has a 50Wh battery, while rivals like the ASUS ROG Ally X and MSI Claw 8 AI+ have 80Wh batteries. Battery life is a common challenge for handheld gaming PCs, so seeing a smaller battery in the Nitro Blaze 7 is worrying.
Ho tells Laptop Mag that Acer is relying on optimization, perhaps with help from the Blaze’s NPU, to improve battery life rather than increasing the size of the battery.
Ho remarked, “Currently, we are trying to optimize the power consumption.”
It’s too soon to say how well this strategy will work, primarily since no similar handhelds currently use the same chipset. Acer could have a winning strategy, but we’ll have to wait to run the Nitro Blaze 7 through the Laptop Mag lab tests to know for sure.
The display raises similar questions.
Acer opted for a 7-inch full HD display, which is similar to most other handheld gaming PCs, but competitors are shifting toward larger, sharper displays. For example, the upcoming MSI Claw 8 AI+ has an 8-inch IPS 1920x1200 display.
Ho says the seven-inch full HD display best fits gamers, even if it’s not the largest or the sharpest. He says that Acer tested different screen sizes but found that “most of the games cannot reach even 60Hz [refresh rate]” on a larger display.
“You don’t need to go into the original Xbox or Steam Deck interface. You can play the game directly through our new interface.”
Marc Ho, Acer Senior Director
“If we had a bigger-sized, higher resolution panel, the performance would be much, much worse,” Ho says. “But for later on, we are trying to solve for this kind of situation.”
Ho hinted that a higher-resolution display or a larger display could appear in a future handheld gaming PC, but for right now, Acer is focused on putting performance first. That required going with the slightly smaller seven-inch display.
Acer is also using software to try to set itself apart. The Nitro Blaze 7 will feature the Acer Game Space app, which integrates all of a player’s game libraries from mainstream platforms like Xbox or Steam into one Main hub.
Ho says, “You don’t need to go into the original Xbox or Steam Deck interface. You can play the game directly through our new interface.”
Will a feature like that convince gamers to buy the Acer Nitro Blaze 7? Maybe not on its own, but it could help sway someone trying to decide between two handhelds since it solves a small but highly inconvenient issue many gamers face.
Like the decision to opt for a less flashy but higher-performance display, including this app seems to be all about putting gamers first. If that was Acer’s plan and it pans out in real-world use, the Nitro Blaze 7 might have a shot at making a name for itself in the crowded handheld gaming PC market.
There are still many unknowns, like price, battery life, heat management, and performance benchmarks.
Those unknowns could make or break the Nitro Blaze 7.
With additional reporting by Madeline Ricchiuto
Laptop Mag's IFA Berlin 2024 Issue celebrates one of the world's longest-running consumer tech expos, Germany's own Internationale FunkAusstellung Berlin.
Our on-the-ground team will bring you all the news emerging from the showroom floor of Messe Berlin and highlight the best in consumer tech as we announce our inaugural Laptop Laurel winners for best-in-show products.
Head over to Laptop Mag's IFA Berlin 2024 Issue for more coverage.
